After severing her connection with the Darkling, Alina leaves the underground city with Mal and the other Grisha, warning the Apparat not to follow her. Alina and her companions wind their way through underground tunnels for four days, working their way toward the earth’s surface. A conversation with Mal reveals to Alina that he does have romantic feelings for her, but he is repressing them because he believes he’s not good enough for her. He rushes off before Alina can respond, and at that moment, an explosion goes off near the group.

Alina and her companions weather several more explosions that make part of the tunnel they’re in collapse, separating them into three groups. After reuniting and making sure that no one is seriously hurt, they determine that the explosions were just random ones that the Darkling has been using on the tunnel system to try and force Alina to come to the surface. Shaken but unharmed, the companions reach the surface and sneak out of the town they find themselves in. They want to try and get to a city called Ryevost, where their friend and ally Nikolai Lantsov is rumored to be staying, using one of his old disguises as a smuggler.